Comments on: Markets in Everything, Except Shorts

By: Cath

Cath — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:59:36 +0000

Beer does not have rice in it. American Budwiser does so that is not beer. who is the beer sponcer?

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:33:52 +0000

Have to admit that my intuitive response is jaundiced due to the fact that the official beer is the Worst Beer Ever.

By: Seth Edenbaum

Seth Edenbaum — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:28:20 +0000

"FIFA should fcuk themselves." you think so?

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:11:34 +0000

To #9: A large part of FIFAs operational costs come from the World Cup revenues, also some part of it is given to the FAs of the teams present (as well as funding a lot of FIFA development grants/schemes). Each FA with a team present gets something like £3 million (just for the first round I think, although haven’t seen anything confirming if more is given at later stages or not), so that accounts for something like £100 million I guess. Certainly Togo was getting $5.56 million according to this article.

By: Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:31:09 +0000

I’m not sure what my intuitive response (f off) would tell anyone about my views on IP law.

By: Ginger Yellow

Ginger Yellow — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:59:33 +0000

The stupidest thing about this is that the stadia are all-seater, so spectators wouldn’t have been able to see the “Bavaria” lettering anyway. They’ve got far more publicity as a result of FIFA being arsey, which surely means FIFA are complicit in the “ambush marketing”. If I were Anheuser-Busch, I’d have much preferred them to ignore it. Actually, if I were Anheuser-Busch, I’d kill myself out of self-loathing, but you know what I mean.

By: paul

paul — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:15:27 +0000

“All promotional, commercial, political or religious items of whatever nature, including but not limited to, banners, signs, symbols and leaflets are prohibited”
Pretty drastic. It would appear to forbid national flags (political symbols). Some national flags (Switzerland, England, Tunisia) might even violate these terms on two counts (politics, religion).

By: abb1

abb1 — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:13:38 +0000

Sign of the decadence of capitalism. General crisis of decomposition, as they say.

By: Oskar Shapley

Oskar Shapley — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:53:35 +0000

The next step: companies will pay fans (or they employees) to show up and line up in special t-shirts, one letter per shirt. F_O_R_D, etc.

One one-letter t-shirt does not a trademark make, but the combination?

By: Backword Dave

Backword Dave — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:45:23 +0000

FIFA should fcuk themselves.

By: de Selby

de Selby — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:09:50 +0000

A thousand Dutchmen in their underpants is unquestionably funnier than millions of Americans in their stocking feet.

It’s a small victory for America, considering the relative humoristic firepower of underwear vs sox, but these days, we take what we can get.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:51:40 +0000

Or maybe just reinforces the idea that FIFA makes the IOC look like pikers when it comes to fleecing the masses.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:31:54 +0000

“I think your intuitions on this one would predict a lot about your views on IP law.”

Or about our views on massive sporting spectacles.

By: Christopher M

Christopher M — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:55:42 +0000

And, of course, between a BBC story and a post on CT, the campaign has now succeeded regardless of what kind of leggings anyone wears or doesn’t wear to watch a soccer game. I’m kind of curious about this Bavaria beer now—aren’t you?

By: Emmanuel

Emmanuel — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:04:34 +0000

We’ve been here before :

“At the successful Sydney Olympics, stadium stewards went as far as confiscating Pepsi cans from spectators because Coca-Cola was an official sponsor. The Greek authorities have introduced similar measures at the behest of the International Olympic Committee.”